Syracuse woman organizes prayer vigil against violence

View full sizeMike Greenlar / The Post-Standard.Community members gather at the corner of South Avenue and Bellevue Avenue in Syracuse to pray for non-violence in response to a shooting last Monday close to the prayer gathering site. Zakeem Rutledge, 20, was shot Monday. His cousin Sakia Dowdy, in green near center, organized the prayer gathering.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Sakia Dowdy, the wife of Christian rapper and ministry leader Joseph “Minista Whispa” Dowdy, organized a prayer vigil tonight in hopes of bringing the community together and ending violence.

Their cousin, Zakeem Rutledge, 20, was shot multiple times Monday night at Bellevue Avenue and Hudson Street, Syracuse police said. There also were shootings Sunday and Tuesday night in Syracuse.

“We want to pray for the community,” Sakia Dowdy said. “We want to come together to bring positive change to the community.”

Only 10 people participated, including her husband, who led some of the prayers, and some of them joined when Sakia Dowdy called them over when they were walking in the neighborhood. They all held hands and prayed in a circle across the street from where Rutledge was shot. She said she wasn't discouraged by the small turnout.

"It'll grow," she said after the vigil ended about 10 minutes after it started. "Big things grow out of small things."

Rutledge suffered four bullet wounds Monday night and was taken to an undisclosed hospital, she said, and his condition is improving daily.

“He still can’t move his right leg a lot,” she said.

Rutledge graduated from Fowler High School in 2010 and is a student at Onondaga Community College.

Dowdy’s husband earlier this year was selected as one of two national winners in a Super Bowl-related online video contest at jingledreams.com. He and his wife won a trip for two to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis and he performed at a Super Bowl event the Friday night before the game.

He hosts the Syracuse Miracles Ministry at the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ on Cortland Avenue. He, his wife and their 11 children work to build houses for those in need in Syracuse.

She said her husband's ministry is proof of how small things can grow.

"That's how our ministry started," she said. "It started with three, and now we have 40."